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This Is the Fourth Quarter, Paging LeBron

Columnist Gregg Doyel was chastised by the Miami Heat’s LeBron James at the Game 3 post-game press conference Monday for asking if he was shrinking in the fourth quarter of games. James argued that he was playing defense and told Doyel to watch tape and come back with a smarter question the next day.

EPA

LeBron James has been the subject of some scrutiny in recent days.

It turns out Doyel needed no tape to back up his argument. James scored eight points in Game 4 and virtually disappeared in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s 112-103 Mavericks win in Game 5—he had a triple-double but scored just two fourth-quarter points. That gives him 11 fourth-quarter points in five Finals games. Eleven. “Anyone seen LeBron James?” Doyel asks, seriously perplexed at the disappearing act James has pulled. “What happened to him?”

Calling James a frontrunner, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski says that James’s failures on Thursday were made all the more glaring by the fact that he considered this the biggest game of his career. “All hell crashed down” on James in Dallas, which is far from the plan he envisioned when the season began. “James and his crackerjack marketers wanted the feeding frenzies, wanted the residual of ‘The Decision’ to be the dawning of a generational, global sports icon,” Wojnarowski writes. “Well, global icons take over fourth quarters.”

The game’s recaps should be filled with praise of Jason Terry and the unbelievably hot shooting of the Mavericks as a whole. One could even paint a storyline about the veterans Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion stepping up to play major roles in the game. But with LeBron involved, there wasn’t much choice. “For 11 wearying months, James seems to have hijacked this sport,” the Miami Herald’s Dan LeBetard writes. “What’s the story after Dirk Nowitzki throws away one game late? LeBron. What’s the story after Wade misses a game-tying free throw and botches a game-tying inbound while sick Dirk wheezes his way to late victory? LeBron.”

James will have a chance to either redeem himself or go home on Sunday in Game 6 in Miami. We’ll have Jason Gay, Jonah Keri, Kevin Clark … and Mindy Kaling of “The Office” (she’s a big NBA fan).

* * *

The 143rd Belmont Stakes will take place Saturday, and it’s as wide-open a field as any in recent history. Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness winner Shackleford will both try to capture a second leg of the Triple Crown, but considering Animal Kingdom went off at 20-1 odds in Kentucky and Shackleford left the post at 12-1 at Preakness, it’s probably anyone’s race to win (Animal Kingdom is the early 2-1 favorite). “It’s a nice duel on paper,” Filip Bondy of the Daily News writes, “but of course there are 10 other horses in the field and a hundred mitigating factors in racing.”

One of the factors is the weather. High temperatures shut down the racetrack on Thursday, and thunderstorms are expected to hit the area throughout the weekend. Mix in a race that is longer than many horses have ever run, and picking a favorite could be an exercise in futility—which is part of the reason for the expected low number of attendees at Saturday’s race. “No horse will run for the Triple Crown. Nor does the field appear to include the kind of budding superstars that set the public’s imagination on fire,” William Grimes of the New York Times writes. “Sportswriters have been debating whether this year’s crop of 3-year-olds is abysmal or merely lackluster.” Not everyone, however, shares the same sentiment. “Without a Triple Crown on the line,” Dale Romans, Shackleford’s trainer, says, “this is going to be one of the most exciting Belmonts I can remember.”

* * *

Four years ago, hard-throwing sensation Joba Chamberlain was brought up to the New York Yankees with the eponymous “Joba Rules,” an initially vague plan hatched by the front office to save his arm from the wear and tear of overpitching. Essentially, Chamberlain couldn’t be used on successive days, and for every inning thrown, he would require a day off. On Thursday, it was revealed that all the initial handcuffing of the bullpen was for naught: Chamberlain had a torn elbow ligament, an injury that will most likely require Tommy John surgery, forcing Chamberlain out of baseball for about a year. “Joba was supposed to be the next Mariano Rivera. Then he was supposed to be the Yankees’ answer to Josh Beckett. Then he was supposed to be the dominant eighth-inning guy,” the Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi writes. “Now, there are no guarantees he’ll be anything but a memory.”

Chamberlain now joins fellow Yankees youngster Phil Hughes on the D.L. Hughes is battling shoulder inflammation and has no timetable for a return. But even though the Joba Rules failed to prevent injury, give the Yankees credit for at least trying something to protect their valuable arms. “The Yankees have tried to do the right thing by their young pitchers and still their two young stars are on the shelf,” Kevin Kernan of the New York Post writes. “The plan did not work.”

Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci says that the sad tale of Chamberlain and Hughes should extend well beyond New York, into fanbases across the country. “The next time you hear about some team counting on a group of young starters all making it big at the same time, be very, very skeptical,” Verducci writes. “The failure rate on pitchers is way too high to count on such serendipity.”

* * *

This Sunday in Canastota, N.Y., the International Boxing Hall of Fame will hold an induction ceremony that may rank as one of the most entertaining of all time (or at least since Bob Uecker was enshrined in Cooperstown in 2003). Canastota will welcome, among others, Mike Tyson and Sylvester Stallone as members of the 2011 class. The small town kicked off the festivities on Thursday with appearances from Bert Sugar, Ken Norton, “Irish” Mickey Ward and Leon Spinks. But the real fun begins Friday night, when Frank Stallone will play a live show at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, and Sly and Tyson are expected to arrive.

Part of the residual fun of the induction is the number of columns popping up debating Tyson’s legacy. At ESPN, Brian Campbell takes a crack, explaining that Tyson was the only athlete both he and his father ever truly shared. “Tyson was a one-man show who had to be seen in the context of his day to be appreciated,” Campbell writes. “He transcended not only boxing but sports in general, rising to fame in a perfect storm during the colorful and excessive 1980s alongside MTV, Michael Jordan and Hulk Hogan.”

In honor of Iron Mike’s induction, we give you a compilation of one of many “Top 10 Knockout” videos made in his honor:

Comments (5 of 7)

The Media's crucification of James for his poor scoring in the last quarter of games in the Finals is valid yet suspect because of the unfair and unwarranted and without precedent universal condemnation of him throughout the year following his decision to join the Heat .

I think my first sentence succinctly sums it up , but because I seem to be the only sports Fan in America who has not joined in " lock step " with the universal media view that he is a villain of the highest magnitude I will clarify .

Lebron James did not ask the Media to follow him around for two years pestering him about what he was going to do , so it was the Media that created the momentum for the " The Decision " a press conference that they would have and may have paid a fortune to get the rights to . So the fault for whatever one might feel about it lies with them .

James's decision to become a Free Agent was the same right that many athletes exercise every year without condemnation , or much comment if any . The posture that Lebron owed the City of Cleveland, or Ownership of the Cavaliers more information than they were given is not only untrue and unfair it ignores the contributions this young man provided to the team and City .

He not only single handedly rescued a bottom dwelling franchise , but he gave the downtrodden and depressed City something to feel good about and contributed increased revenue to all involved only to be trashed and maligned like no other athlete who has contributed so much and exceeded all performance expectations of perhaps any player in NBA History in his very first year.

It was also terribly unfair of the Media to ignore the very positive example this young man has provided everyday in an era where gun totting, womanizing, and more is too often the norm .

So yes , Mr. James's scoring may have been far less than anyone expected , but he deserves a pass because of all he has done for the League and his teams to even get to this moment, and certainly deserves the "Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird treatment " from a Media who has mercilessly and unfairly attacked him like no other player in history .

O.J was treated better .

4:50 pm June 10, 2011

Alice wrote:

LeBron wants to win at home.
He has put on an act waiting to make a triumphant return to Miami.

He wants everyone to talk about him and then he'll just put on his show.

Or else he finally realizes he ain't the MAN and has given up.

3:59 pm June 10, 2011

MF wrote:

The problem is that Miami's big three do not complement each other the way Boston's big three do. Lebron or DWade need the ball to be effective offensively. One of them must take second fiddle and neither is spot up shooter like Ray Allen. Neither is a pure shooter although both can have exceptional streaks. Either can break down the defense but not in a playmaking way. MJ's Chicago teams, Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics were all better balanced teams with clear complementary roles.
Anyway, I want Miami to lose because of DWade's sneaky, dirty play that ended up crippling Rondo.

3:11 pm June 10, 2011

Casey wrote:

Can anyone in New York play this here game?

1:15 pm June 10, 2011

John E. Gibbons wrote:

Dallas appears to be a team and Miami appears to be a collection of personalities each with their own agenda. These personalities might at some point become true greats but win or lose this year, they are not a team.

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